Ten years after his death, Kurt Cobain remains undiminished as a rock 'n' roll icon.

That's despite the lingering gloom of his untimely demise, a limited catalog of recordings and a lot of unfulfilled potential as a musician and cultural trailblazer.

The songs he wrote and recorded with Nirvana -- "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lithium," "Come as You Are," "In Bloom" and others -- still play constantly on rock radio, reminding listeners of the enduring power of his music and lyrics.

"Young musicians are still inspired by Kurt's musical sense and his emotional legacy," said Ann Powers, senior curator at the Experience Music Project.

"The stance, the outpouring of emotion that he was brave enough to give us, I think it's still relevant. As long as there are blond-haired boys in ratty T-shirts mumbling their hearts out, then Cobain will have a legacy."

Charles R. Cross, author of the definitive Cobain biography, "Heavier Than Heaven," regards Nirvana as the most influential rock band of the past 20 years.

"There certainly hasn't been a group that has eclipsed Nirvana in impact, legacy or power," he said.

In the current issue of Rolling Stone, celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock 'n' roll, Cobain is enshrined in a cover story as one of "The Immortals -- The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time." Aside from Nirvana, the only other rock acts of the past 20 years included in the exclusive list are U2 and Prince.

"Cobain changed the course of where the music went," writes Vernon Reid, formerly of Living Colour, in a tribute to Nirvana. "There are certain people where you can see the axis of musical history twisting on them: Hendrix was pivotal, Prince was pivotal, Cobain was pivotal."

When Nirvana formed in the late 1980s in Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen, Seattle's rock scene was enjoying a resurgence in dingy clubs that fostered original music -- an unkempt, high-decibel blend of punk and metal that raged with emotion.

Nirvana arrived in Seattle, via Olympia, just as that scene was beginning to peak, giving local rock another jolt of caffeine. In 1989, Nirvana signed to Sub Pop, an influential Seattle label that promoted a distinctive sound and look loosely defined as "grunge."

"Part of what was so captivating about Nirvana's music was not so much its stunning originality, but its remarkable fusion of so many different strands of influence," said Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman.

"I remember the first time I heard a Nirvana song. Maybe it's my own frame of reference, but I heard so many different artists, so many different voices and influences just in one song. It was almost overwhelming."

In 1991, Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl released "Nevermind" on DGC/Geffen Records, an album that since has sold more than 14 million copies. Cobain's riveting songs gave rock's underground a voice in the mainstream.

"They were good songs at a time when people weren't writing good songs anymore," said Jack Endino, who produced Nirvana's first album, "Bleach," for just over $600.

"And they had memorable melodies. They were very Beatles-esque. They were like classical pop melodies on top of Black Sabbath riff-rock."

"Here we are now/ Entertain us," Cobain sang in "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the anthemic debut single from "Nevermind," which rocketed up the record charts in the fall of 1991, sweeping past such acts as Boyz II Men, Garth Brooks and Metallica.

In January 1992, "Nevermind" knocked Michael Jackson out of the No. 1 slot on Billboard's album chart, an achievement viewed with amazement. Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt compared it to the Mariners winning the World Series. Nirvana's success was a triumph for what people were calling "alternative" rock.

"Like other cultural shifts before them, they had a seismic impact on the landscape of music," said Steve Slaton, music director at Seattle classic rock station KZOK 102.5 FM, which cautiously has added Nirvana's music to its playlist.

"Nirvana instantly dated the 1980s hair bands. I don't want to pick on anybody, but there were a lot of groups that were very, very popular that were instantly obsolete. But that was the kick in the butt that rock 'n' roll needed."

Soon, the strain of unwelcome stardom began to undermine Cobain, a troubled soul who struggled with his yearning for success and self-expression and disdain for notoriety.

David Fricke's Rolling Stone review of "In Utero," the 1993 follow-up to "Nevermind," distilled Cobain's malaise: "Never in the history of rock 'n' roll overnight sensations has an artist, with the possible exception of John Lennon, been so emotionally overwhelmed by his sudden good fortune, despised it with such devilish vigor and exorcised his discontent on record with such bristling, bull's-eye candor."

When Cobain's body was found the morning of April 8, 1994, above the garage of the Denny-Blaine home he shared with his wife, Courtney Love, and daughter, Frances, it brought a calamitous end to one of the most remarkable careers in rock.

A suicidal Cobain -- who had killed himself on April 5 with a lethal dose of heroin and self-inflicted gunshot blast -- had fostered a musical revolution, then abruptly removed himself from power, leaving his fans to pick up the pieces.

"Cobain's death was equated by many who cared most deeply about what he represented as the death of possible cultural alternative that embraced a group of outcasts and perceived losers who didn't really have a voice," said Michael Lewis Goldberg, an associate professor at the University of Washington who teaches a course on pop culture that includes a segment on the Seattle scene.

"If Cobain had died of a drug overdose, it might not have been so devastating, but fairly or not, that shotgun blast was seen by many as a betrayal."

"Imagine what might have happened if Cobain and other alternative artists had been able to maintain this new counterculture long enough to hook up with the anti-globalization movement of the late '90s," Goldberg said.

"Cobain's legacy, to me, speaks of a small set of great music and a boatload of unfulfilled promise, both musically and culturally."

Today, Nirvana's music continues to have a profound impact on rock radio, at a time when hip-hop artists -- OutKast, Usher, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Ludacris, Chingy and others -- dominate the national singles charts.

Bands like Nirvana have helped spawn such stations as Seattle's new KRQI 96.5 FM, part of a national trend in "classic alternative" radio.

Nirvana is at the top of the heap at KNDD 107.7 FM, which made its debut in 1991 and now calls itself "Seattle's original alternative."

"I firmly believe that Nirvana created this radio format, with the explosion of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' into the mainstream," said station manager Phil Manning.

"When that song came out, there were maybe 20 to 25 alternative stations across America, with poor signals. The tipping point came with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and several great songs from other bands."

KNDD, which will pay tribute to Nirvana with special programming on Monday, currently has more than 30 Nirvana songs in "active rotation" at all hours of the day, as well as a weeknight feature called "Nightly Nirvana" featuring three of the group's songs.

Goldberg, the University of Washington professor, regards Cobain's legacy as mixed.

" 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is one of those songs that seems to define a time and transcend it, like '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' or 'Purple Haze,' " he said. "The fact that (KNDD) has just circled back to the early '90s, with Nirvana as something like its anchor, speaks to the band's continuing reputation.

"But part of Nirvana's ambiguous legacy is that it helped spawn an awful lot of crap for the type of frat-boy audience that Cobain explicitly rejected."

When the previously unreleased song "You Know You're Right," recorded in the winter of 1994, was released in 2002, fans and radio programmers celebrated its arrival.

If only there were a few more songs like "You Know You're Right."

"There are many sad things about Kurt's death and one of the saddest is that his musical output wasn't that big," said EMP senior curator Powers. "There's not much there to love."

Nirvana's success helped focus attention on Seattle and its developing music industry, which now generates more than $650 million in annual revenue and 8,700 jobs for the local economy, according to a recent economic impact study.

David Meinert, a talent manager and community activist, spoke at a panel discussion about Seattle's resurgent music scene titled "Is Seattle the Next Seattle?" at the recent South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.

"Part of the Nirvana legacy is that people like Krist (Novoselic) stayed in Seattle and reinvested in the community," Meinert said.

"So did Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and others. They supported different political causes and non-profits and that's part of why we're able to sustain what we have. In a lot of cities, successful bands leave and go to L.A. or New York."

What might Cobain have done if he hadn't ended his life? The British magazine Uncut recently ran a previously unpublished interview with Cobain, who said that he had considered quitting Nirvana to join Love's band, Hole, with whom he said he had a stronger musical affinity.

Sub Pop co-founder Poneman describes Nirvana's moment in rock history as the culmination of a "perfect storm" that launched the band into the stratosphere.

"One's hope is that every generation will have a band like Nirvana that regenerates the music," he said. "It takes the right song and the right band at the right time just seizing the imagination of a lot of people."